breaking in birds

i got some ybs that i brought with me from yorkshire i had flown them out and they had one training toss there,i now want to break them in i was thinking of banning the wings for a bit and sitting them out on the loft,somone told me to put a aviry uo for the winter and let them fly around in that,i will have a mesure up tomorrow but i dont think my wife would be happy with that as our garden is not half as big as the one in yorkshire and the loft has taken a lot of the garden as it is lol,

What I have done in the past with excellent results is this time of year when they are moulting, wait until they are 3 flights from the end and then cut the last 3 off short. The birds can hardly fly at all, and if they do its just short bursts and no height. Leave them in the loft say 2 days after you cut them this way they know they cant fly. Then put them out on the loft after you let yours out and they have already flown, that way your birds are on the loft and not flying off every 2 minutes, even put a bath out so all yours are in it first.
I find the birds will not attempt to fly and after a few days of this they know where they are. Eventually over the next few weeks they moult out the cut flights one by one and no harm done, as the cut ones were coming out anyway..job done. I have never lost a bird this way and have even broke stock birds. If they dont go in and its getting late simply catch them they wont fly far and some dont even bother getting away.

i not got any other birds flying out mate i just moved here.the ones i want to break in are the ybs i had in yorkshire.but i see what you are saying and i think i will do that thanks mate.

mark

good advise their martyn..................

yeah dave sure is and thats what i going to do

again I only give advice about things I have tried, and this is one I have tried with excellent results, and this time of year it can be done so easy. I would not go for other methods like soaping the wings up as this will dryout and they will eventually get airborne. This way they are not able to fly for a few weeks by which time the flights have moulted out and they gradually get flying stronger. But you must make sure they are in the loft for a few days first, and realise they cant just take off and fly.

ive used the soaping of wings in the past martyn and its worked ok, but i do like the sound of this method of yours.......plus as you say, its the ideal time of year to do it.

The only thing i would say if you cut the pigeons down (or as we say put them on a short wing) only cut one wing because if you cut both of them when they grow new feathers they can get up an a half full wing it is always best to cut the one wing and this stops as they have not got the balance needed to fly

another way that you can use string to tie up wings(only the flights) till they know their new home, one adcantange is you can take off the sting from their wings whenever you want, also never hurt their feather. someone told me that is a good way,you can try it

have heard of an elastic band round the wings, dont know if it would work tho or come off............

i put bands on the wing before a bird decided to try and flap its wings as they do and the bands came of and up and away it went lol

as i have said before, i have soaped the wings of ybs but the best method ive heard is martyns by cutting the ebd flights..........

As a newbie I was keen to find a way of settling the two birds kindly given to me by David; I spoke to many fanciers and there seemed to be universal agreement that the soaping method would be best as it was temporary and that after all all I needed was to let the two young birds out to walk around the garden to survey their new surroundings and afetr that they'd soon be ready to let fly free.

So after 2 weeks in my new loft, full of excitement at soon being able to let my birds fly free (I only had the two) I began to soap the wings, rubbing Fairy Liquid onto the 4 outermost primaries on my first youngster (still a squeeker). With great expectation I let her go expecting her to flutter to the floor which she did but then almost immediately managed to get onto a low fence and from there to a low extention roof. What do I do now I thought I wasn't expecting that

I decided to carry on with the second bird in the hope it would entice its loft mate down from the roof, but this time to soap virtually all the primaries - this worked a treat, but alas the first bird went to an even higher roof.

The second bird was having a rare old time though pecking around the garden - it was a nice sunny day and it seemed very happy. Imagine my horror when after about an hour and a half the first bird took off which startled the second which tried to take off too. The first bird was now strong on the wing; the second had made it onto the extention roof. I never saw the first bird again and when about 15 minutes later the second also took off it didn't even look back as it flew off straight as an arrow into the distance - I was/am devistated it was horrrible ringing David (who had been regularly staying in touch to offer support and advice) to tell him what happened.

From the above disaster I've learnt a lot about 'soaping', amongst which is you soak the wing in soapy water thoroughly wetting it - don't just rub neat Fairy Liquid onto the feathers and that there is a time limit they can be out and about for i.e. don't let the wing dry out as the birds can the fly!!! Obvious really, now I think about it. But a third thing I learnt was that David is a very generous Gent who thankfully, despite my schoolboy errors is letting me have another pair - David I promise you I won't be so stupid again

Steve sorry to hear what has happened but it is all apart of trial and error, but things can get better mate

Cheers Don, that was pretty much Davids response too (thankfully), the irony is I currently have a stray hen that was handed to me 4 days ago flown out (reported to owner and awaiting response), I've fed, watered and rested it then released it - it goes straight back into the loft

That sometimes happens, more than likely you have looked after her better than her owner

i got some you can ave mate off my reds if you want them eh

hi steve, these two new ybs you will be getting should be easier to settle this time, as they will be straight out of the nest therefor unable to get up in the air and fly.......what you will need to do is to just open your loft door and let them have a look around your garden etc, just do this for a short time each day so by the time they are stronger on the wing they will have had a good look round and maybe even have had a peck around the grass etc........

its always very hard for any fancier to settle yb which are very strong on the wing as these were espesially when you had no other settled birds to keep them around home, i had the same problem when i first started the other year........i also think its easier if you had a few ybs as well instead of just two, but you shouldnt have much trouble this time with these younger birds............

so would this work on a old bird too just i have had it in aviry since may ....

phil411 wrote:

so would this work on a old bird too just i have had it in aviry since may ....

hi phil, for an older bird i would do as martyn suggests and cut the end flights.......

I found some pics show how to cut end flights to stop birds fly, don't know how to upload pics on the form(actually I tried many times press the *Host an imagine* button to upload pics, but it can't work)

alexhe wrote:

I found some pics show how to cut end flights to stop birds fly, don't know how to upload pics on the form(actually I tried many times press the *Host an imagine* button to upload pics, but it can't work)

hi a;ex, if you look to your right....down the side of the site you will see where it says upload image, in the Affiliates box.....click here and it takes you to a site and you click on browse and it browses pictures on your computer, simple load the pic you want then copy and paste onto our site.


hope this helps, any problems let me know.

Hi Feral, thankyou that's a very tempting and much appreciated offer and one I would love to accept, however, I'm trying to limit myself to only a couple of birds initially so that I can learn to look after them properly (I'm really fighting the desire to have more), so will respectfully decline your offer at the moment; David has generously given me another pair of youngsters which, once I have proven to myself I can look after and keep happy, I will be looking to establish a racing team. I would be very grateful if when (hopefully) I get to that stage I might take you up on your offer (subject to availability etc).

Regards

best way steve, altho its a kind offer from feral you are right in what you are planning on doing ......

That is fair Steve just one step at a time mate